Friday, May 30, 2014

Damn, not a good day for the socialist bastards. A couple hours after Shinsheki gets the axe,Whitehouse spokesman Jay Carney decides to spend some quality time anywhere but in front of a microphone.
That's too bad.

Heh.

One can only hope it's contagious.

President Obama announced today that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is stepping down, and will be replaced by deputy Josh Earnest.

The news came just hours after Obama announced he had accepted the resignation of embattled VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

They got their tits in a wringer in the first place for beating the shit out of everybody, now that there are agreed upon guidelines they are bitching that it violates THEIR Constitutional guaranteed rights?

Irony just fell over dead from head wounds sustained while resisting arrest.

Thugs ain't be happy when they can't be thuggin'.

Motherfuckers.

They finally fired one cop there recently that had over one hundred complaints against him.

I'm thinking they need to find him some company in the unemployment line.

SEATTLE -- More than 100 officers from the Seattle Police Department are suing the city and the Justice Department, claiming their department's new use-of-force policies put them in danger and violate their constitutional rights.

In 2012 Seattle officials agreed to an independent monitor and court oversight of the city's police department as part of a deal with the Justice Department following a report that found officers routinely used excessive force.

The civil suit, which was filed Wednesday, names Attorney General Eric Holder, the City of Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray, City Attorney Pete Holmes, and federal monitor Merrick Bob.

In the suit, the officers claim the new use-of-force policies "unreasonably restrict and burden the plaintiffs' right to use force reasonably required, to protect themselves and others, from apparent harm and danger, in violation of the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution."

The officers go on to say the new rules are impractical and burdensome.

"in some places it is overly complicated and contradictory, in other places overly precise and mechanical, but throughout, requires plaintiff to engage in mental gymnastics wholly unreasonable in light of the dangerous and fast evolving circumstances we face every day," the suit reads.

The officers are asking for an immediate injunction against the implementation of the use-of-force policies and a judgement that the polices are unconstitutional. They also want to be awarded damages for lost time and wages and punitive damages for the "ungrounded maligning of the good work of SPD's patrol officers."

The Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation of the Seattle department in 2011 after the fatal shooting of a homeless Native American woodcarver and other incidents involving force used against minority suspects. A Justice Department report later found officers were too quick to reach for weapons, such as flashlights and batons, even when arresting people for minor offenses.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the public has the right to film cops in public and has reinstated a lawsuit against a local New Hampshire police department brought by a woman arrested for filming a traffic stop.

The plaintiff in the case, Carla Gericke, was arrested on wiretapping allegations in 2010 for filming her friend being pulled over by the Weare Police Department during a late-night traffic stop. Although Gericke was never brought to trial, she sued, alleging that her arrest constituted retaliatory prosecution in breach of her constitutional rights.

The decision is but one in a string of decisions that are slowly sticking the needle into laws nationwide barring the recording of police as they perform their duties. But some states, like Massachusetts, outlaw the secret audio recording of police. A woman accused of secretly turning on the audio recording feature of her mobile phone while she was being arrested was charged with wiretapping two weeks ago in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts wiretapping law prohibits secretly recording police.
In the latest decision, the First US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Gericke "was exercising a clearly established First Amendment right when she attempted to film the traffic stop in the absence of a police order to stop filming or leave the area." The decision allows her lawsuit against the department to proceed.

Of course they left a wide margin of latitude where the definition of "Officer Safety" applies.

The way I see it, this is a good way to keep track of trigger happy cops so they can be held accountable.

The case that started this was when the cops shot a guy in his yard holding a garden hose nozzle twelve freakin' times after a neighbor called and said there was an intoxicated guy with a gun running around and then the city paid out 6.5 million for their reckless behavior.

Police agencies generally must tell the public the names of officers involved in shootings, the California Supreme Court decided Thursday.

The state’s highest court, in a 6-1 vote, rejected blanket policies by a growing number of police agencies against disclosure. The court said officers' names can be withheld only if there is specific evidence that their safety would be imperiled.

“If it is essential to protect an officer's anonymity for safety reasons or for reasons peculiar to the officer's duties — as, for example, in the case of an undercover officer — then the public interest in disclosure of the officer's name may need to give way,” Justice Joyce L. Kennard wrote for the majority.

“That determination, however, would need to be based on a particularized showing.”

The decision is likely to make it much more difficult for police agencies to withhold the names of officers involved in on-duty shootings.

“Vague safety concerns that apply to all officers involved in shootings are insufficient to tip the balance against disclosure of officer names,” Kennard wrote.

The case stemmed from an effort by the Los Angeles Times to obtain the names of Long Beach police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Douglas Zerby, 35, in 2010. The officers mistook a garden hose nozzle Zerby was holding for a gun.

Times reporter Richard Winton made a California Public Records Act request asking for the names of the officers who shot Zerby and the identities of all Long Beach officers who had been involved in on-duty shootings in the prior five years.

The Long Beach Police Officers Assn. went court to prevent the city from disclosing the names, citing the confidentiality of personnel records and a need to protect officer safety.

The police group and the city of Long Beach, joined by other California law enforcement agencies, argued that revealing the identities would endanger officers and their families because home addresses and telephone numbers can be obtained on the Internet.

The Times, backed by other media and California ACLU groups, countered that the public had the right to know the identities of officers who use lethal force.

Los Angeles prosecutors eventually revealed the name of the officers involved in Zerby’s shooting in a report that exonerated the police. The officers had been summoned by a neighbor who said there was an intoxicated man with a gun outside a Belmont Shore apartment complex.

A federal jury later awarded Zerby’s family $6.5 million after concluding that the two officers had behaved recklessly when they shot Zerby.

This pretty much says it all though, you can't spend money when you are dead.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

An investigation of wait times for medical care at Veterans Affairs facilities has found "inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic" through the VA and "instances of manipulation of VA data that distort the legitimacy of reported waiting times," prompting new calls for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign.
The VA inspector general's interim report, released Wednesday, shows the investigation has expanded to 42 facilities, more than a dozen beyond the previously reported 26.

Document

At the Phoenix VA, the main subject of the interim report, investigators "substantiated that significant delays in access to care negatively impacted the quality of care," finding about 1,700 veterans who were waiting for an appointment but were not on a waiting list.
"These veterans were and continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost," the report says, adding they may never obtain an appointment.

"A direct consequence of not appropriately placing veterans on EWLs (electronic waiting lists) is that the Phoenix HCS leadership significantly understated the time new patients waited for their primary care appointment in their FY 2013 performance appraisal accomplishments, which is one of the factors considered for awards and salary increases."
The report prompted Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, to immediately call for Shinseki’s resignation.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Paramilitary Tactics Learned Abroad, Used at Home

A family of eight — a grandmother, two daughters and five grandchildren — is awakened in the early hours of the morning by heavily armed paramilitaries who don’t identify themselves. One young mother is blinded by a spotlight while she nurses her tiny infant. Two of the men rifle though the family’s personal possessions while two others guard the entrance to the home. This is the third invasion of their home in the past two months. Almost every night, the paramilitaries drive by their yard, spotlighting their windows and watching them from the roadside.
Another member of the same community recalls being followed for miles by a low-flying Blackhawk helicopter with machine-gunners hanging out of the open helicopter doors. She’s also been pulled over, pepper-sprayed, beaten with batons and interrogated about her grocery shopping.
Where is this? Some godforsaken third-world hellhole? North Korea? Ukraine? Some war-ravaged African failed state?
Try the United States of America, folks. That’s where all this happened — and continues to happen every day. And it’s coming to a town near you.

This time it's the Border Patrol,in those "Constitution Free Zones" you thought were some kind of hoax.

They are for real folks and these military tactics they are using are no joke either.

The paramilitaries are from the U.S. government. The objects of their reign of terror are U.S. citizens, living peacefully in their homes on U.S. soil. There is a foreign angle to this, however — the weapons, clothing, tactics and even language these thugs use are all taken straight from U.S. combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But these brutes aren’t from the Army or Special Forces — they are civilian members of the U.S. Border Patrol. They are legally authorized to operate this way within a 25-mile zone near the U.S. border, in which they can enter anyone’s property without a warrant.
Whether the Border Patrol’s behavior is Constitutional, of course, is another matter entirely. One brave patriot who has been subject to the arbitrary terror raids, Ofelia Rivas, has put up a sign in her yard stating that the Border Patrol can’t enter her home without a warrant, a right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.
But hers is just a nostalgic sentiment, something out of ancient history. None of that Bill of Rights nonsense here.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Call me when they start putting these people in prison because no one is taking any of this serious anymore.

This is an absolutely perfect example of why this "Corporations Are People Too" bullshit was a criminal conspiracy cover from the very beginning.
You can not, put a corporation in jail, period.

The people responsible for oversight and prosecuting these multiple instances of theft by conspiracy should themselves be on trial for abdicating their responsibilities and not prosecuting these crimes to the fullest extent the laws allow in the first place.

Barclays Plc has been fined $43.8 million for failures in internal
controls that allowed a trader to manipulate the setting of gold prices,
just a day after the bank was fined for rigging Libor interest rates in
2012.
Britain’s Barclays is the first bank to be fined over attempted
manipulation of the 95-year-old London gold market daily “fix”, although
a source familiar with the fine said it was a one-off and not part of a
wider investigation into gold price rigging.
It marks another blow to Barclays’ attempts to put past problems behind it.
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday there were failings at
Barclays from 2004 until 2013, but the key event occurred on June 28,
2012, a day after UK and U.S. regulators fined it $450 million over
attempted Libor rigging.
“A firm’s lack of controls and a trader’s disregard for a customer’s
interests have allowed the financial services industry’s reputation to
be sullied again,” said Tracey McDermott, the FCA’s director of
enforcement and financial crime.
The FCA said it had banned former Barclays trader Daniel James
Plunkett and fined him 95,600 pounds for exploiting weaknesses in the
bank’s systems.
“Plunkett’s actions came the day after the publication of our Libor
and Euribor action against Barclays. The investigation and outcomes in
that case meant that the firm, and Plunkett, were clearly on notice of
the potential for conflicts of interests around benchmarks,” McDermott
said.
Plunkett fixed the price in order to avoid the payment of $3.9
million to a customer under an option, which boosted his own trading
book by $1.75 million, the FCA said. The bank later compensated the
client in full.
On the eve of June 28, Plunkett sent an email to commodities
colleagues saying that he was hoping for a “mini puke” the following
day. The FCA understood this to mean a drop in the price of gold ahead
of the fixing.

This LIBOR Rate fixing scandal that broke a couple of years ago broke the story on the largest theft of wealth in the history of man.

Ask yourself this question,

How many financial industry workers involved in that and there were literally hundreds, do you recall going to prison for that?

Hmm?

Same ol', same ol'.

The fact that the Gold market has been being manipulated for years is no surprise to anyone.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind anyone reading this that in next November, all 435 representatives in the US House of Representatives have come to the end of their current terms.

These are the people who let this shit slide day in and day out.
They mouth platitudes and feign outrage but never do a motherfucking thing about it.
That is because of lobbyists.

Lobbyists from the banking industry and every other low life legal scam out there donating money to these sonsabitches.

I suggest that if you vote and you see an incumbent on the ticket, VOTE THAT COCKSUCKER OUT.

I don't care who it is, they are crooked one way or another.

Do you want to know why I say this?
It has absolutely nothing to do with politics, it is pure economic warfare against these lobbying whores.

Get rid of the ones who are already bought and paid for for two reasons.
One, the outgoing fuckers can then do no more favors for their buyers, thus negating any monies already spent.
Number two,make the financial whores pay top dollar grooming a completely new batch of talent.

We all know there is absolutely no saving the current system so make them pay with both monies and time.

It is basically the only course of action they will pay any attention to.

I'm not sure how many people really pay any attention at all to lubricants but without them, life would come to a screeching halt in very short order.

I used to get paid to make sure that every piece of equipment on a job was greased and lubricated, I pretty much walked around all day with a grease gun and a rag in my hand.

In some really nasty environments, there were certain parts on some equipment that had to be greased twice a day. Wars are fought over lubrication assets ,if you thought we were messing around in the Middle East just for political reasons, you aren't paying attention.

You couldn't even make a cup of coffee in the morning if there weren't many different types of lubricants available to the world.

This is actually pretty revolutionary;

The world uses tens of millions of tons of lubricant every year, from the smallest part of a micro-precision instrument to the expansion rollers on the largest bridges. Most are oil based, though others use powders, and even metals, and it’s been that way for decades. That could be changing as the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM), Nematel GmbH, and Dr. Tillwich GmbH have developed a new class of lubricants that are based on liquid crystals instead of oil. According to Fraunhofer, this is the first fundamentally new lubricant developed in twenty years.

Liquid crystals are an oddity of the chemical world that most people know from digital displays and television sets, but are actually found in everything from cell membranes to soapy water. As the name implies, a liquid crystal is a substance that is neither entirely a liquid, nor a crystal, but possesses the properties of both, such as a liquid that retains the structure of a solid crystal.

It’s this structure that provides the new lubricant with its slippery quality. In a normal liquid, the molecules lay about in a random fashion, but a liquid crystal can line up its molecules in parallel, so when two surfaces are coated with a liquid crystal lubricant, they slide past one another as if on a set of microscopic rails that are nearly frictionless.

According to Fraunhofer, the new lubricants demonstrated very low friction surprisingly early in the tests, with the lubricant layers showing a high level of stability and very low wear thanks to the long, thin nature of the molecules. Testing was done using lasers designed to measure extremely low friction coefficients without having to make contact.

Fraunhofer hasn't released much about the specifics of the new liquid crystal lubricants, but the company says that the research team has been working with additives to increase the lubricant’s stability, as well as studying the chemical mechanism involved in ultra-low frictional coefficients and the adding together of different liquid crystal molecules. They've also been testing the lubricant in sliding bearings made of iron, copper, and ceramic.

Despite progress, Fraunhofer says that there’s still a long way to go before the new lubricant is suitable for practical applications

I wonder if even 1% of these people had more than 3 gallons of water stored for emergencies?

Just how crazy do you think these "Prepper" people are now?

Hmmm?

Take a gander at the map and realize that this is only part of the Greater Portland Metro Area.
There are well over a million people in a fifty mile radius of down town.
Probably closer to a million and a half.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The city of Portland has issued a boil water notice for all customers after state health officials detected E. coli bacteria in water samples at three locations over a three-day period.

“Until further notice, all Portland Water Bureau customers and those in the affected areas should boil all tap water used for drinking, food preparation, tooth brushing and ice for at least one minute. Ice or any beverages prepared with un-boiled tap water on or after May 20 should be discarded,” the water bureau said on its website.

Officials said 670,000 people are affected by the boil water notice. It is the largest boil water notice in the city's history.

(My bold)

"We're painfully aware that we're going into a holiday weekend and that this is an inconvenience for people," City Commissioner Nick Fish said. "We regret that, but we're also guided by good science and regulations."

The water bureau said in three separate incidents from May 20 to May 23, repeat water samples confirmed total coliform and E. coli in drinking water samples.

The water samples that tested positive for bacteria were collected at Mt. Tabor Reservoirs 1 and 5, and at the SE 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street water sampling station.

The bureau says both reservoirs have been taken offline.

It's unclear what caused the contamination. The water bureau is investigating, but officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon that they may never know the cause.

All Portland Water Bureau customers are affected. Also affected are customers of the following water providers:

Burlington Water District
City of Gresham (North of I-84)
Lake Grove Water District
Lorna Portland Water
Palatine Hill Water District
Rockwood Water District
Tigard Water Service Area (including Durham, King City and Bull Mountain)
Valley View Water District
West Slope Water District

“While we believe at this time that the potential health risk is relatively small, we take any contamination seriously and are taking every precaution to protect public health,” said Portland Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff.

He also stressed that water customers shouldn't depend on home water filtration systems to treat their water.

The city of Gresham buys water from Portland, which means that all Gresham water customers north of Interstate 84 should boil their water, the city said. And According to the city, Rockwood Water People's Utility District is also affected.

Customers will be notified when they no longer have to boil their water, the bureau said. The earliest time the boil water notice could be lifted is Saturday, after the bureau receives new test results. Those test results are expected Saturday morning.

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. (AP) — For two weeks, a 13-year-old boy diagnosed with serious mental health issues sat in an emergency room bed at United General Hospital. After countless daily phone calls to facilities across the state, the hospital wasn't sure what else to do other than keep the boy there and hope a placement opened.

An involuntary treatment hearing was held Thursday. With no one qualified to testify about the child's condition, a court commissioner ordered the boy be released without treatment.

"The mental health system has failed this young boy," said attorney Dennis Scott of Anacortes, who argued for the boy's release.

Testimony indicated the boy suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. At the hearing, the boy's mother tearfully expressed her frustration to get her son help.

Shortly after the hearing, Scott learned a bed had been found for his client.

Scott routinely represents patients during these hearings and said this case is far too common and illustrates the poor job the state has done to take care of its mentally ill citizens. This case was particularly egregious, Scott said. The child was acting out aggressively and was in a crisis state. But after being hospitalized for two weeks in United General's ER, he received no mental health treatment and the state found no placement for him.

One day two buddies can't decide whether or not to go out duck hunting, Chester and Earl.

Chester says to Earl "I'll just send my dog out to see if there are any ducks out in the pond. If there aren't many ducks out there, I'm not going hunting". So he sends the dog out to the pond.

The dog comes back and barks twice. Chester says "Well I'm not going to go out. He only saw two ducks out there".

Earl says "You're going to take the dog's barks for the truth?" Earl doesn't believe it, so he goes to look for himself. When he gets back he says "I don't believe it. There really are only two ducks out there! Where did you get that dog?" Chester says "Well, I got him from the breeder up the road. If you want one, you can get one from him".

So Earl goes to the breeder and says he wants a dog like the one his friend Chester has. The breeder obliges and Earl brings the dog home, tells it to go out and look for ducks. Minutes later the dog returns with a stick in its mouth and starts humping Earl's leg furiously.

Outraged, Earl takes the dog back to the breeder and says "This dog is a fraud. I want my money back!" The breeder asks Earl what the dog did. So Earl tells him that when he sent the dog out to look for ducks, it came back with a stick in its mouth and started humping his leg.

The breeder says "Earl, dogs can't talk. He was trying to tell you there are more fucking ducks out there than you can shake a stick at".

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Almost daily I see transparent attempts by various agencies and individuals trying to spin information in order to influence other peoples perceptions and opinions.

What gives me a small glimmer of hope is watching someone else jump all over these feeble disinformation campaigns and pointing out the facts.

The best part is, I am seeing this more and more often.

A perfect example of these distortions is the inflation index the government issues that doesn't take into account energy and food costs, the two things that affect everyone in a major way.

The same thing with unemployment numbers.

These are attempts by the government to spin absolutely horrible numbers by fudging them.

There are many people out there you can find with a quick internet search that will tell you the true numbers are nowhere near what the government would have you swallow.

The same goes with every governments hit list of things they do not approve of.

Certain people who are trying to live their lives in ways the government would have you believe aren't good or normal.

Take the fact that someone who was called a Patriot in prior ages was a good and noble thing, something to be proud of.
Now the government has put a spin on that to make it have a negative connotation.

Out of the other side of their mouth, they call you a Domestic Terrorist at the same time.

Because you dare to act in a manner that you feel should help shape the country and guide it in a better direction than what the government has decided is best for you.

With the internet, facts can be given and dispersed at light speed to put a spotlight on who is doing what and why.

The government does not like to be put on the spot when they are caught red handed playing fast and loose with the truth and will organize and direct it's resources against you for taking the trouble of pointing out their misdeeds.

This is where unorganized everyday folks can, with a little help getting focused, put tremendous pressure in very publicly painful places in order to cause the government to rethink their strategy.

How many times can you remember watching the MSM blatantly tell the entire population what ever the government wants you to hear, only to discover in the next day or two that it is a complete falsehood and have the real facts presented?

Take for example these Domestic Terrorist Raw Milk producers.

The government would have you believe they are plotting mass murder.

Oh, My God, they will sell you raw milk!
It will KILL you!

I think several thousand years of history proves them wrong, I put my opinion on the internet and BOOM, I'm the bad guy.

Now I'm a terrorist sympathizer according to the powers that be.

They call in a SWAT team, raid the farm, call in the IRS to audit their books and harrass the living shit out of the poor farmer all to prove a point, they are in charge.

Unfortunately for them, a few thousand people get wind of this via the internet and the next thing you know there is a firestorm of indignation and they get very, very quiet.

They do not understand the audacity of someone not showing absolute servility.

They do not comprehend where all this controversy and talk of government reform is coming from.

Are these not The Sheeple we have indoctrinated for so long?

No, we are not. We are informed citizens holding our government accountable for their actions and using the internet to share information and facts to sway public opinion, just like the big boys.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Been having problems with no internet access off and on again the last few days.
One thing I discovered completely by accident that seems to help is to unplug the cable from the wall that goes to the box for a few seconds.

When I plug it back in, the box resets and it seems to work for a while. Just resetting the box doesn't have the same effect for some reason.

It kind of boggles the mind that someone would lock up something with such historical significance.

Reading the article, it says it was shown to a select few back in 1987 and then locked up again!

Like no one would be interested?

What was the thought process there?

This is from 1937, it's kind of part newsreel, part documentary. It seems the pilots were having more trouble than people realized, trying to get the thing leveled out before docking, it says they circled around for three hours dumping ballast trying to get it right.

The rear end of the thing was too low and that's what got 'em.

If you are interested, there is quite the article and several excellent photos at the link.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

This warms the cockles of my black little heart.
This guy is a loser ex cop busted for stealing equipment and selling it on E Bay so he gets away with resigning but that's not the sweet part, this is;

Former sheriff fighting DWI car seizure

SANTA FE (KRQE) – It was a little after 9 on a Monday night when Santa Fe Police got the call.
Sylvia Solano, 21, had just driven a white BMW convertible into a brick wall in a sleepy south side neighborhood.
Solano was taken to jail, arrested after blowing a .24 on a breathalyzer. The BMW was taken to the city impound lot.
Because it was Sylvia Solano’s second DWI, the city kept the wrecked car under the city’s DWI forfeiture law and moved to seize and sell it.
But the car isn’t Sylvia’s. It’s her dad Greg Solano’s car.
“On this night I hadn’t loaned it to her,” said Greg Solano. “I didn’t know she was taking it.”
Greg Solano was Santa Fe County sheriff for eight years, resigning in 2010 after he was caught stealing and selling department equipment on eBay.
It’s ironic he would have his car seized because as sheriff, Solano pushed for the county to get a DWI forfeiture ordinance of its own.
Because Solano says he didn’t give his daughter the keys nor know she was even drinking, he appealed to the city to be considered an innocent owner and get his car back.
The hearing officer denied him.

A group of more than 40 demonstrators forced the Albuquerque City Council to cancel its meeting Monday night after taking over the council chambers and attempting to serve Police Chief Gordon Eden with a “people’s arrest warrant,” KRQE-TV reported.
“This is no longer your meeting, this is the people’s meeting,” one demonstrator, University of New Mexico professor David Correia, told the council. “This is democracy in action.”
Eden and his department have drawn widespread criticism for what has been described as a pattern of excessive force, particularly following the release of footage showing shooting and killing 38-year-old homeless man James Boyd in March 2014. A report by the U.S. Justice Department last month blamed “insufficient oversight, inadequate training and ineffective policies” for the department’s regular use of deadly force.
On Monday, one demonstrator attempted to physically hand Eden a “warrant,” but he left the chambers without acknowledging her or taking the paper, while council members tried in vain to quell the unrest before them.
“We have no control of this meeting,” council president Ken Sanchez was quoted as saying. “So if this is your meeting, go ahead.”
Sanchez and other council members then said they were taking a 5-minute recess, during which time the protest continued, with calls for both Eden and Mayor Richard Berry to be fired. The Albuquerque Journal reported that the demonstration turned into a “People’s Council” meeting, which held votes of no confidence against Berry and Eden.
Sanchez later re-emerged to officially adjourn the meeting.
“It just seems like it’s been increasingly hard for us to even do our business, whether it’s about this or other matters,” council member Isaac Benton told the Journal. “If anything, it’s demoralizing for those of us on the council who are trying to do something about the problem.”

Let me explain something to Mr. Benton.

You should have taken notice of this little matter about 34 killings ago.

Talk about being fucking clueless.

In case you hadn't noticed Mr. Benton, your police force is completely out of control, even the Feds say so, in a kind of political ass covering sort of way.

The fact that the citizens of Albuquerque haven't shown up with pitchforks, torches and barrels full of tar and feathers is probably only because Amazon won't deliver them.

It looks to me like you are right there at that point though.

Someone is going to go, it's a matter of time at this point and it is way the hell overdue.

'COPSLIE' vanity plate upheld by N.H. Supreme Court

In a unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court agreed with the arguments of David Montenegro, who wanted the vanity plate reading "COPSLIE" to protest what he calls government corruption.

State law prohibits vanity plates that "a reasonable person would find offensive to good taste." But the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union argued that the law is unconstitutionally vague and gives too much discretion to a person behind a Department of Motor Vehicles counter.

New Hampshire had argued that state workers were right to deny the plate, because the phrase disparages an entire class of people — police officers.

The justices said that state law does not define the phrase "offensive to good taste."

"The restriction grants DMV officials the power to deny a proposed vanity registration plate because it offends particular officials' subjective idea of what is 'good taste,'" the court wrote. The decision states the law is unconstitutionally vague and violates free speech rights.

The case was sent back to Strafford County Superior Court for further proceedings.

Attorney Anthony Galdieri, who argued the case on behalf of Montenegro and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, said he was not surprised by the ruling. "This regulation was an impermissible way to regulate speech under the First Amendment," Galdieri said.

The American Locomotive Co built 25 of the monsters to Union Pacific's specifications between 1941 and 1944

Seventeen Big Boys were scrapped when they were pulled from service, but eight survived and are on display

Union Pacific chose the 4014 for restoration because it spent more than 50 years in the friendly climate of California

Big Boys are 132 feet long, weigh 1.2million pounds with a full load of fuel and can reach 80mph

Even the name is legendary. An unknown worker scrawled 'Big Boy' on the front of one of the engines when it was under construction.

'It came out one day, and it had "Big Boy" in chalk on it. And from that day forward, it was Big Boy,' said Ed Dickens Jr., Union Pacific's senior manager of heritage operations, who will oversee the restoration at the railroad's steam shop in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Dickens and his crew recreated the chalk inscription on No. 4014 when they began to move it.

Big Boys are 132 feet long, including the tender, which carried coal and water. They weigh 1.2 million pounds with a full load of fuel. They are essentially two engines under one boiler, with two sets of eight drive wheels, each set powered by two enormous cylinders nearly 2 feet across.

Big Boys are so big that the front set of drive wheels has to pivot separately from the back set to get around curves.

snip

They aren't just huge either, they were fast.

They were engineered to reach 80 mph, even though the railroad never intended to run them that fast. The point was to fine-tune the locomotives so they stayed in balance at any speed and didn't beat themselves up with their own powerful forces.

'You get all that machinery to live in harmony,' McCulloh said.

Their enormous bulk also hid some slick engineering, including a suspension system that kept the drive wheels pressed against the rails when the locomotive straddled hills or valleys.

Seventeen Big Boys were scrapped when they were pulled from service, but eight survived and are on display around the country. Union Pacific chose the 4014 for restoration because it spent more than 50 years in the friendly climate of Southern California, at the RailGiants Train Museum at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.

snip

Restoration is expected to take three to five years. The railroad would like to have the Big Boy operating by 2019 for the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike in Utah, which linked the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific and completed the first transcontinental railroad.

It's too early to predict where the restored locomotive will travel. Railroad officials said they will have to choose the routes carefully to make sure bridges and tunnels can handle the Big Boy's weight and size.

There are a lot more pictures, a video and way more to this story at the link.

Monday, May 5, 2014

3 shotguns, 2 rifles, handgun turned in at event

The Miami Police Department and the Miami mayor hosted a gun buy-back program Saturday.
In an effort to reduce gun violence and unnecessary injuries to residents, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and the police department held the event for four hours at the Little Haiti Soccer Park.
Residents were able to drop off any firearm and receive a gift card provided by the police department's partners and sponsors with no questions asked, officials said.

Miami police said three shotguns, two rifles and a handgun were turned in Saturday.
Anyone who turned in what police determined to be an assault rifle received a higher-value gift card, officials said.

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